Author / Dr. Holly WhiteKnight, ND

With the unseasonably wet spring and the cooler than normal temperatures that we’ve had this year, entomologists have predicted a very ‘buggy’ summer. Fortunately, there are things that we can do to help prevent that annoying buzzing near our heads and the red itchy after-bites.

Dehydration is a serious problem, especially when talking about athletic performance. Your body needs water in order to operate on the most basic of levels. Without proper hydration your body can suffer mild to severe physiologic compromise. Weight loss of 1-2% of your total body weight can signify dehydration and will show signs of decreased performance. At a 3% loss you will start to experience heat cramps and a moderate to severe decrease in performance. Anything over a 5% loss puts you at risk for heat stroke. Dehydration actually occurs before the onset of thirst. Therefore, if you feel thirsty you are already dehydrated!

As per the Food Climate Research Network’s most recent report put it: “The relationship between health and environmental sustainability can best be viewed as an arranged marriage, rather than a love match.”

As North Americans we need to think about the way that we eat, not just for the health of our bodies but also for the good of the planet. With all of unfolding research regarding climate change, it’s no surprise that food security is such an issue. Unpredictable weather patterns and drastic extremes provide challenges for farmers and their crops. “Fad” superfoods deplete the local resources for the native population, driving the prices up so high that their chance for maintaining it as a staple in their diet is no longer financially attainable, as is the case with Quinoa in South America. People are becoming more detached from what it means to eat locally, with whole foods as the center focus of their diet.

Sustainability comes in many faces. Some factors to consider when making sustainable food choices could include:

Media use by children and adolescents has reached an unprecedented level, and is ubiquitous. A recent study reported that Canadian children spend 8.5 hours per day engaged in sedentary media activities. Those under the age of two are spending 2.5 hours a day in front of a television. Youth also report using more than one device at a time. Both quantity and quality of media consumption have effects on brain development and the behavior of youth.

A developing brain is a sensitive organ that slowly builds from the bottom up.

A cute and very accurate bumper sticker from one of the Naturopathic Medical Schools reads: “The road to health is paved with good intestines”. The overall health of our body is in fact, intimately linked to the health of our intestines.

With an abundance of research connecting chronic health issues to the gastrointestinal tract (gut), we as naturopaths have a lot that we can offer to help heal your gut and get you on the road to healing your life. Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Ulcerative Colitis, Crohn’s Disease, Celiac Disease, gluten sensitivity/intolerance, food allergies; these are all situations where there is significant inflammation somewhere in the gut. Such hostile conditions in the gut will eventually affect other parts of the body overtime and further weaken the immune system.

A large portion of our immune system lives in the gut. The body needs a positive balance of healthy bacteria (flora) in order to remain in good health and to prevent inflammatory states. The immune system in the gut must be strong enough to properly identify harmful bacteria and stimulate the body’s immune response to fight off infections and to keep the negative bacteria at bay and from multiplying to numbers that lead to a subsequent infection.